


Unconventional Approaches to Conflict Resolution

by weakinteraction



Category: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen, Pre-Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-19 23:27:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7381771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weakinteraction/pseuds/weakinteraction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A mission to a remote planet goes wrong for Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unconventional Approaches to Conflict Resolution

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paranoidangel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paranoidangel/gifts).



Obi-Wan ducked low as he ran through the rainforest. The terrain was difficult, slippery and treacherous underfoot and the branches of the giant trees hung low directly into his path. Using the Force, he could run at far greater speed than his pursuers: sensing the obstacles ahead of him, responding to them before he was even really aware of their presence, pushing his body to the very limits of physical endurance.

But the shuttles screaming overhead announced the arrival of reinforcements. After landing, they would easily be able to encircle him. In the worst case scenario, they might even choose to bombard him from the air, burn down this entire section of the forest to be sure they had caught him.

Obi-Wan ran faster still, but now his mind raced as fast as his body, trying to work out what his next move should be.

* * *

It was remarkable how rapidly the mission had gone downhill. They had arrived on this backwater planet, far from the Republic, dressed as itinerant traders, their lightsabers concealed, even their hair styles altered. The Jedi Council had sent them to investigate a rumour that some sort of ancient Jedi artifact had been discovered here -- or perhaps discovered elsewhere, and ended up here somehow.

Most of the inhabitants of the planet were human, but the rulers were from an insectoid species, a set of squabbling cousins, each with their own territory on the surface and jealously guarded rights to different parts of its solar system. While outright warfare was rare, low level disputes raged across the planet and local space. The Jedi were supposed to remain in disguise for the duration of the mission, for fear of the Republic being dragged into the conflict on one side or another if its protectors were seen to be getting involved in local politics.

"But surely, Master," Obi-Wan had said when Qui-Gon had first explained all this, "this is exactly the sort of conflict the Jedi _should_ be involved in resolving."

The look Qui-Gon had given him had been a mixture of pride and amusement. But all he had said was, "We have been given our mission. That takes priority."

So it had been something of a surprise when the first customs official they had encountered had bowed low to them and called them "Master Jedi". Even more so when even before they had left the space station, they had been surrounded by law enforcement officers -- working for a different "family", under the complex treaties governing the administration of the system's hyperspace waypoint.

Obi-Wan had instantly retrieved his lightsaber from where it was hidden in the lining of his jacket, ready to fight back, but Qui-Gon had gestured to him to stand down. "Naturally, we will co-operate with the lawful authorities," he said, as much to Obi-Wan as the arresting officer.

* * *

Obi-Wan had not understood what Master Qui-Gon had hoped to achieve by giving himself up so willingly. The shuttle ride down to the planet, their lightsabers confiscated, their hands in restraints, did not seem to afford any real opportunity to ask, supervised as they were by a quartet of armed police and several droids. Whatever the serenely smiling Qui-Gon was planning -- and Obi-Wan was confident that this was all part of some sort of plan -- it was not clear to him. He stilled his mind to meditate upon what he knew about the situation, but found it impossible. He was distracted by the tense atmosphere on board; the officers behaved more as though they were carrying some sort of lethal explosive than people.

No one spoke except to exchange the bare minimum of information necessary. Mostly that was the pilot, talking to ground control. She was constantly being fed with different approach vectors; it seemed that every re-entry on this planet was subject to negotiation between the competing nations on the surface as and when the ship was already underway. Obi-Wan wanted to ask a hundred questions, of the pilot, of Master Qui-Gon: how could such an inefficient system be tolerable? Couldn't the rulers see it was in all of their best interests to arrange a permanent solution? Or simply to stipulate that national borders only applied up to a certain altitude?

The shuttle slammed into the atmosphere, the red hot glow of re-entry surrounding them. Suddenly, through the Force, Obi-Wan received a premonition of imminent danger. "I have a--" But before he could even finish speaking, a missile had slammed into the back of the shuttle, disabling its engines and tearing a hole in the hull. A power surge crackled through the feedback loops of the thruster controls and electrocuted the pilot, sending her flying backwards across the floor of the shuttle.

Loose items began flying out of the back of the shuttle. The four police officers, belted into their seats, looked on in a state of near terror, until the droids managed to patch the hole in the back of the shuttle with their own bodies. But then the shuttle began to spin alarmingly as it went into a dive.

Obi-Wan looked out of the cockpit to assess how far they were from the ground, whether the spin was recoverable. "You have to release me!" he shouted to the nearest police officer. "I can fly this shuttle!"

The police officer looked to his superior, who nodded warily. The officer unbuckled himself and rapidly released Obi-Wan. He ignored the unconscious pilot; he could sense that she was still connected to the Force, and so still alive. Her chances of survival were entirely the same as everyone else on board. Crossing to the flight controls, Obi-Wan quickly rerouted auxiliary power to reactivate them. As they stuttered into life, the readouts and displays confirmed how dire the situation was. Altitude was dropping rapidly, and the damage to the engines was far more than their self-repair systems could cope with in such a short time. Only the maneouvring thrusters were available, and the system itself seemed extremely uncertain as to whether they would in fact respond to commands.

Still, Obi-Wan had to try. First he applied the landing thrusters on the starboard side only, trying to correct the spin. They fired fitfully at first but then suddenly surged to full power, so that the correction was too much, and the shuttle began to spin the other way. Obi-Wan quickly shut them off and applied a short blast with the port thrusters, cutting it off again almost instantly to avoid the same problem recurring. Twice more and the shuttle was level again, but descending at such a steep angle that it would almost certainly be lethal on impact. And all this time it had been falling rapidly.

The atmosphere was getting denser now; suddenly, Obi-Wan could hear the screaming noise as they tore through it. He fired the front landing thrusters continually in a desperate attempt to pitch the nose of the shuttle upwards, but made precious little impact. And all too soon, the thrusters, which usually ran off bleedthrough from the main engine, exhausted their emergency reaction mass.

And yet somehow the shuttle was continuing to pitch up ever so slightly. Obi-Wan glanced back at Master Qui-Gon, whose eyes were screwed tight shut, a look of intense concentration, not to say anguish on his face. Obi-Wan realised that he was using the Force to continue nudging the shuttle's trajectory. Minutely, but still having an effect. Such a feat seemed astonishing to Obi-Wan; he knew that Master Yoda could levitate enormous objects without thinking, but this felt altogether different, to move something whilst travelling inside it.

Obi-Wan did his part by looking down at the rapidly approaching surface of the planet, trying to see where they might land. The planet had an equatorial ocean; there was no way to know if they would survive hitting the water, but it ought to absorb the energy of the impact slightly more forgivingly than the land.

Suddenly the indicators for the self-repair system chimed softly. Main engines were back online, with 10% power. Meagre, but better than nothing. Obi-Wan fired them up and pulled up on the main flight control, desperately trying to level out the shuttle as much as possible. He nudged towards the ocean as the surface grew ever closer. Behind him, he sensed, but did not dare look to check, Qui-Gon finally relaxing.

They were only a few kilometres above the surface now. Obi-Wan could make out the features more directly. The continent they were above had a dense jungle in the tropical regions to the north of the ocean. It was touch and go whether they would make it to the ocean or not, but perhaps the forest canopy would provide some sort of buffer against the worst of the impact--

They hit the top of the trees, gouging a line kilometres-long through the rainforest, before eventually thudding to a halt, the shuttle mostly buried in the ground.

* * *

Obi-Wan ran on. The smoking ruin of the shuttle was far behind him now.

In the confusion after the crash he had been able to escape, even as the police marched Master Qui-Gon away. Obi-Wan cursed himself for not having insisted that they free him as well, but in the emergency he had not had been thinking beyond their immediate survival. He was determined to go back and rescue Qui-Gon, as soon as he had made it out of his current predicament. The police had seemingly called for military reinforcements, and an entire platoon was now hunting him down.

That predicament got worse when a blaster bolt suddenly fizzed above his head. Obi-Wan ducked lower and ran even faster, but more shots followed, until there was a hail of blaster fire coming from behind him, cutting down branches all around him.

There was nothing for it but to stand his ground. Obi-Wan turned to face his pursuers and drew his lightsaber, activating it and quickly swinging it from side to side to deflect each incoming bolt. The soldiers continued to fire, and Obi-Wan fell into an almost trancelike state, moving his arms by pure instinct -- and the Force. So much so that it took him a moment to realise that they had stopped.

For a moment, everything was quiet. Obi-Wan tried to evaluate his chances of running again, but the other shuttles had landed by now and would be disgorging troops into the forest from other locations. He would have to find somewhere to hide, or at least to stand his ground.

And then there was blaster fire again, coming from the other direction. Obi-Wan swung around quickly, lightsaber at the ready, before he realised that it wasn't aimed at him. And then it struck him: the soldiers in the other shuttles weren't reinforcements for those pursuing him; their loyalties lay with the other families, perhaps the same ones who had organised the missile attack on the shuttle in the first place. His pursuers returned fire at the new arrivals.

There was about to be a major pitched battle over who got the right to capture him. Obi-Wan finally began to understand why Master Qui-Gon had decided they should go quietly when first arrested, why he had not attempted to escape, as surely he could if he had tried, after the shuttle crash. But Obi-Wan could hardly do the same now without provoking further conflict. He wondered how long he might last if he stayed here, trying to deflect the blaster bolts from both directions. Even if he didn't slip, the soldiers would eventually close in on him -- and each other. There could be dozens of casualties.

Suddenly, there was a buzzing sound coming through the trees. At first, Obi-Wan thought it was some sort of heavy plasma weaponry but then he realised: it was one of the planet's insectoid rulers herself, a giant creature easily as large as a man, floating in mid-air. She had a silver carapace that might be armour or might be her natural state. Behind her were a retinue: a few other lower-ranked members of her own species, and a small company of soldiers. Standing in the middle of them was a still restrained Master Qui-Gon.

Obi-Wan stared at the queen in shock; her connection to the Force was so strong as to almost be visible. The other members of the species behind her -- princesses, after a fashion, Obi-Wan guessed -- did not seem to share the same. Obi-Wan wondered how high the queen's midichlorian count might be, whether she was one exceptional individual or indicative of some wider pattern. Master Qui-Gon had not mentioned anything about the planet's rulers being able to use the Force. Had he known? Or was this the real truth behind the rumours they had been sent here to investigate?

The new arrivals had caused the two sides in the dispute to stop firing. A move born of caution: the arrival of the queen herself was most unusual, and if a stray blaster bolt had hit her, the consequences would have been immense. It was after all most unusual to see one, let alone several, of the species; according to everything he had read, they almost never left their comfortably air conditioned hives, certainly not to fly anywhere as hot and humid as this. 

"Jedi!" she spat, buzzing side to side in front of Obi-Wan. Lightning crackled around the lower tip of her abdomen, and then shot out towards Obi-Wan. He raised his lightsaber, absorbing the energy. Eventually, she ceased the attack. Obi-Wan kept his lightsaber raised, staring at her warily.

"Jedi!" the queen said again.

Obi-Wan was still trying to think of what to say to her when Qui-Gon stepped forward. "Yes, your majesty?"

"You assured me co-operation!"

Obi-Wan stared at Master Qui-Gon.

"My young padawan is headstrong," Qui-Gon said, smiling indulgently at Obi-Wan. "But he acted only with noble motives. Indeed, without him your shuttle would have been lost in the missile attack, and us along with it."

"The treachery of the Lizzzizzzi is predictable," the queen said dismissively, her comments aimed towards the troops to Obi-Wan's right.

"Please, your majesty," Qui-Gon said. "You must move beyond your old rivalries."

Obi-Wan coughed. "Your ... cousins," he said. "Are they connected to the Force in the same way that you are?"

"No!" the queen laughed. "Only the Shshanna line has the Old Power! And that is why we will reign supreme!"

"I wonder why that should be," Obi-Wan said quietly, even as the Lizzzizzzi troops raised their weapons to aim at the queen. She was trying to provoke them, Obi-Wan realised. He spoke louder. "Then surely you can see that you are all connected, as all living things are connected through the Force. It is you who understands this best, it is you who must lead the others. Not by conquest, but by co-operation."

"My padawan speaks the truth, your majesty," Qui-Gon said. "Look around you. Just the arrival of the two of us has nearly brought you to the point of war. And how often does this sort of thing happen, on one pretext or another?"

The queen turned to her retinue. "Send a message to my fellow majesties. There will be a conclave."

* * *

Obi-Wan still didn't understand all of it as they left the system. The conclave of queens -- the first to be held in over a century -- had elected to banish them, clearly worried about the destabilising impact that the presence of the Jedi was already having on their planet. And they had no long-lost Jedi artifact to show for their efforts.

And then it hit him.

"There never was a mission," he said to Qui-Gon, slightly accusingly.

"On the contrary," Qui-Gon said. "We came here, did we not? We even went to considerable trouble to disguise ourselves."

"All right, then, the mission we were supposed to be on was a smokescreen. The Jedi Council wanted to prod the queens into co-operating better, and so they sent us to be a ... catalyst, of a sort. Is that right? And then arranged for the information that we were on the way to be leaked?"

"That sounds like a very high risk strategy for the Council," Qui-Gon observed mildly.

"There never was a mission," Obi-Wan said again. "You did this all on your own authority."

"A single Jedi, arbitrarily deciding the fate of an entire planet? That sounds terribly unlikely." Qui-Gon smiled, and pulled something from his pocket: a small crystal which shimmered in the ethereal blue hyperspace light around them. It looked like a lightsaber crystal, but not one of a type Obi-Wan had ever seen before. "And who's to say there wasn't an artifact?"

"Where did you get that?"

"The queen gifted it to me," Qui-Gon said. "A totem from the Shshanna hive. I doubt she realised it's true power; I rather suspect her descendant will not find herself connected to the Force in the same way as she and her ancestors have been."

"Probably not a bad thing from the point of view of the overall stability of the planet," Obi-Wan said. "Master, I don't know whether to be amazed or appalled at what you have done."

Qui-Gon smiled. "Well, then, Obi-Wan, we will make a Jedi Master of you yet, as I imagine that's exactly how the Council will feel."


End file.
